Today the President gives his annual address. As the election battle begins, how does his first term add up?

232: Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 and January 2004

501: Number of American servicemen to die in Iraq from the beginning of the war - so far

0: Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the Allies in May 1945

0: Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed

0: Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq

100: Number of fund-raisers attended by Bush or Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2003

13: Number of meetings between Bush and Tony Blair since he became President

10 million: Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, setting an all-time record for simultaneous protest

2: Number of nations that Bush has attacked and taken over since coming into the White House

9.2: Average number of American soldiers wounded in Iraq each day since the invasion in March last year

1.6: Average number of American soldiers killed in Iraq per day since hostilities began

16,000: Approximate number of Iraqis killed since the start of war

10,000: Approximate number of Iraqi civilians killed since the beginning of the conflict

$100 billion: Estimated cost of the war in Iraq to American citizens by the end of 2003

$13 billion: Amount other countries have committed towards rebuilding Iraq (much of it in loans) as of 24 October

36%: Increase in the number of desertions from the US army since 1999

92%: Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that had access to drinkable water a year ago

60%: Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that have access to drinkable water today

32%: Percentage of the bombs dropped on Iraq this year that were not precision-guided

1983: The year in which Donald Rumsfeld gave Saddam Hussein a pair of golden spurs

45%: Percentage of Americans who believed in early March 2003 that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks on the US

$127 billion: Amount of US budget surplus in the year that Bush became President in 2001

$374 billion: Amount of US budget deficit in the fiscal year for 2003

1st: This year's deficit is on course to be the biggest in United States history

$1.58 billion: Average amount by which the US national debt increases each day

$23,920: Amount of each US citizen's share of the national debt as of 19 January 2004

1st: The record for the most bankruptcies filed in a single year (1.57 million) was set in 2002

10: Number of solo press conferences that Bush has held since beginning his term. His father had managed 61 at this point in his administration, and Bill Clinton 33

1st: Rank of the US worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per capita

$113 million: Total sum raised by the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, setting a record in American electoral history

$130 million: Amount raised for Bush's re-election campaign so far

$200m: Amount that the Bush-Cheney campaign is expected to raise in 2004

$40m: Amount that Howard Dean, the top fund-raiser among the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls, amassed in 2003

28: Number of days holiday that Bush took last August, the second longest holiday of any president in US history (Recordholder: Richard Nixon)

13: Number of vacation days the average American worker receives each year

3: Number of children convicted of capital offences executed in the US in 2002. America is only country openly to acknowledge executing children

1st: As Governor of Texas, George Bush executed more prisoners (152) than any governor in modern US history

2.4 million: Number of Americans who have lost their jobs during the three years of the Bush administration

221,000: Number of jobs per month created since Bush's tax cuts took effect. He promised the measure would add 306,000

1,000: Number of new jobs created in the entire country in December. Analysts had expected a gain of 130,000

1st: This administration is on its way to becoming the first since 1929 (Herbert Hoover) to preside over an overall loss of jobs during its complete term in office

9 million: Number of US workers unemployed in September 2003

80%: Percentage of the Iraqi workforce now unemployed

55%: Percentage of the Iraqi workforce unemployed before the war

43.6 million: Number of Americans without health insurance in 2002

130: Number of countries (out of total of 191 recognised by the United Nations) with an American military presence

40%: Percentage of the world's military spending for which the US is responsible

$10.9 million: Average wealth of the members of Bush's original 16-person cabinet

88%: Percentage of American citizens who will save less than $100 on their 2006 federal taxes as a result of 2003 cut in capital gains and dividends taxes

$42,000: Average savings members of Bush's cabinet are expected to enjoy this year as a result in the cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes

$42,228: Median household income in the US in 2001

$116,000: Amount Vice-President Cheney is expected to save each year in taxes

44%: Percentage of Americans who believe the President's economic growth plan will mostly benefit the wealthy

700: Number of people from around the world the US has incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

1st: George W Bush became the first American president to ignore the Geneva Conventions by refusing to allow inspectors access to US-held prisoners of war

+6%: Percentage change since 2001 in the number of US families in poverty

1951: Last year in which a quarterly rise in US military spending was greater than the one the previous spring

54%: Percentage of US citizens who believe Bush was legitimately elected to his post

1st: First president to execute a federal prisoner in the past 40 years. Executions are typically ordered by separate states and not at federal level

9: Number of members of Bush's defence policy board who also sit on the corporate board of, or advise, at least one defence contractor

35: Number of countries to which US has suspended military assistance after they failed to sign agreements giving Americans immunity from prosecution before the International Criminal Court

$300 million: Amount cut from the federal programme that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes

$1 billion: Amount of new US military aid promised Israel in April 2003 to offset the "burdens" of the US war on Iraq

58 million: Number of acres of public lands Bush has opened to road building, logging and drilling

200: Number of public-health and environmental laws Bush has attempted to downgrade or weaken

29,000: Number of American troops - which is close to the total of a whole army division - to have either been killed, wounded, injured or become so ill as to require evacuation from Iraq, according to the Pentagon

90%: Percentage of American citizens who said they approved of the way George Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 26 September, 2001

Issues & Facts Concerning the Actual State of the Union
TomPaine.com
Health Care
44 million Americans, 15 percent of population, including 8.5 million children, don't have health insurance.

As the ranks of the uninsured have swelled and health costs have skyrocketed, the Bush administration has responded aggressively with the only kind of public policy it believes in: giveaways for large corporations. In this case, HMOs and drug companies were the big winners.
     -  General Wesley Clark (www.clark04.com)

With Americans paying the highest price for drugs in the world, Bush pushed through a prescription drug bill that actually prohibits Medicare from negotiating a lower price for seniors.  He turned a $400 billion benefit for seniors into a subsidy for the drug companies that help pay for his party.
     -  Robert Borosage , co-director of the Campaign for America's Future ( www.ourfuture.org )

Jobs and Economic Recovery
Two million fewer jobs than when Bush took office. Tax cuts promising 300,000 new jobs a month never reached one-third of that goal. In December 2003, only 1,000 new jobs created. New jobs pay less than those lost.

Under Bush's watch, companies like Tyco avoid paying $400 million a year in U.S taxes through shell headquarters offshore, while they are rewarded with $331million in Federal contracts in 2002. George W Bush has chosen tax cuts for the wealthy and special favors for the special interests over our economic future.
     -  Senator John Kerry (www.johnkerry.com)

"The Bush economic policy of multi-trillion dollar tax cuts that largely benefit the wealthy has totally failed American workers. Since Bush became President, we've lost 2.3 million jobs altogether, 2.6 million manufacturing jobs and 2.9 million private sector jobs - and the jobs that are being created are not good family-supporting jobs with benefits. To the extent that there is an economic recovery, it has completely bypassed working people."
     -  John Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO ( http://www.aflcio.org/yourjobeconomy/jobs/jobcrisis.cfm)

"Working families are still facing sizable economic problems that are not likely to be solved over the next year. The economy may be looking brighter on spreadsheets, but their economy -- the one they live in -- is plagued by shrunken paychecks, fears of job loss and little opportunity.

 "Even though production has been growing for more than two years, the United States has just experienced the sharpest loss of jobs this far into a recovery since the Great Depression, with nearly 2.9 million private- sector jobs lost. For every job vacancy there are now three unemployed workers, and nearly half of all Americans personally know someone who has lost their job. We are a long way from a healthy labor market with strong real-wage improvements and unemployment steadily dropping toward the 4 percent level we enjoyed in 2000. In economic terms, there is a huge gap between the rising GDP, productivity and capital investment that is exciting business analysis and the business press and what is happening in the labor market."
     -  Lawrence Mishel, President, Economic Policy Institute (http://www.jobwatch.org)

 The Economic Policy Institute has created a table that lists and corrects some of the most egregious of these errors. To read the table, which will be a valuable guide in future reporting on these economic issues, please click here: http://www.epinet.org/newsroom/releases/2004/01/040116admin-v- facts.pdf

Funding Education
No Child Left Behind law $7 billion short.

"On education, Bush is all talk and no money. Pell Grants have been level-funded, HeadStart was cut, GEARUP was slashed, IDEA is still under-funded, Teach for America lost its money. College tuition has increased nationwide – as much as 117% in some states. If the Bush Administration was truly committed to the next generation, they would ante up and fund education initiatives. It's time for a progressive, renewed commitment to education."
     -  Gloria A. Totten, Executive Director, Progressive Majority ( www.progressivemajority.org)

“Year after year President Bush has refused to provide our students with the dollars promised in his No Child Left Behind Act. This consistent denial of the resources needed to succeed, combined with an over-reliance on standardized testing to judge the quality of our public schools is a sure recipe for declaring America's public schools as "failing" and moving us towards the private school voucher system President Bush has always desired.”
     -  Bethany Little , Associate Director, White House Domestic Policy under President Clinton

Environment
Landmark environmental laws weakened. Allowable levels of mercury from power plants tripled. Superfund clean-up costs shifted from polluters to public. Clean Air Act rules for dirtiest power plants relaxed.

"President Bush says he cares about clean air, clean water, and America's natural heritage but when push comes to shove his administration sides with corporate special interests at the expense of public health and our environment . " 
     -  Karen Wayland, Legislative Director, Natural Resources Defense Council
        For NRDC's account of what the Bush administration has done and is doing on environmental matters, check out:  www.nrdc.org/bushrecord  

State & Federal Spending
States face largest budget crises in decades. Federal deficit has hit a new high. $87 billion spent on Irag as U.S. non-defense domestic spending plummets. Meanwhile, White House pushing for new space program, costing estimated hundreds of billions.

“President Bush had no problem finding money for lavish tax breaks for his biggest campaign contributors, or over $150 billion for his misguided war in Iraq . But when it comes to fully funding his No Child Left Behind mandates, schools are out of luck.”
     -  Governor Howard Dean , MD ( www.deanforamerica.com)

"Our nation has 8.7 million Americans out of work. We've lost trillions in our retirement savings because of plummeting stock prices and corporate scandals. Health insurance costs are skyrocketing at nearly six times the rate of inflation. States are facing the worst financial crisis since World War II, threatening education, health care and public safety. The President doesn't want to provide assistance to the states, which are collectively facing a $200 billion deficit for fiscal years 2002-2004. We must provide aid to states to help them balance their budgets and avoid cuts in children's health care and unemployment insurance. We must invest in job creation, roads and bridges; fund schools and improve health care, education and job training."
     -  Gerald McEntee, President, AFSCME

War on Terror
No WMD found. No link between Iraq and Al Qaeda found. Osama bin Laden still at large. Rebuilding Iraq marred by terrorism, corporate profiteering and failure to restore basic services.

“Here is the Bush Cartel Recipe for foreign policy, as BuzzFlash found it in a Neo-Con cookbook: 

Take one part ignorance and mix it with two cups of hubris. Toss into a blender and mix slowly, as you add three cups of oil and one cup of blood. Add a pinch of vengeance (for Saddam Hussein allegedly trying to kill Poppy Bush) and drop in chopped up jello molds of France and Germany .  Remove from blender into mixing bowl larded with lies and stir at a rapid frenzy.  Add a generous teaspoon of opiate for the masses.  Place in rectangular tray. 

Cook for 30 minutes and then decorate with red, white and blue frosting to simulate the American flag.  Use little banners placed around the cake to represent multi-billion dollar sweetheart contracts given to campaign contributors -- and paid for by the American taxpayer.

Add candles made from filaments of Saddam's beard, and prepare to celebrate your triumphant foreign policy dessert, as Laura Bush flings open the White House windows and yells out: "Let Them Eat Cake!”
     -  Mark Karlin, Editor -- (www.BuzzFlash.com)

“Today there is no real disagreement on what must be done to protect the homeland: terrorists must be identified and apprehended, critical infrastructure protected, ports of entry secured, first responders supported. Too frequently, however, the Bush administration has lost focus on these key priorities and instead exploited the emergency for purposes that bear little connection to the fight against terrorism. The result has been abuses of civil liberties on a scale unprecedented since the era of COINTELPRO and Watergate.”
     -  John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress
       (www.americanprogress.org)

Faulty Applause Signs Mar State Of The Union Address
by JJ Jogolo

            When the President of the United States delivers his State of the Union Address it is customary for the entire audience to provide a standing ovation after every second or third sentence. Last nights address went horribly wrong and was terribly embarrassing for George W. Bush when the applause signs that signal when to stand and clap did not function correctly.

            Oddly, only one applause sign was working properly and anyone watching Bush's address on television would have to assume that only a handful of people approved of his speech because of the lack of standing ovations coming from the majority of attendees. The only working sign was the one right in front of the Republican party seats. So, throughout the speech only about 10% of the entire room gave standing ovations at the appropriately scheduled times.

            During his address, President Bush seemed perplexed and visibly shaken by this lack of action from his audience. During the assigned applause sequences he kept looking around the room, obviously wondering why only the Republicans right in front and to the left of him were standing and applauding. The faulty signs were apparently repaired for the last minute of his speech when the entire room seemed to deliver the appropriate ovations but it was too little, too late, the damage had already been done.

            Bush has asked that $10 million dollars be appropriated for an investigation into the applause sign scandal. He never directly accused members of the Democratic party, but there were insinuations to that effect made by him and other members of the Republican party.

            "The entire State of the Union address looked more like something right out of a Saturday Night Live skit rather than providing the serious message it is meant to convey to the nation." said Randy Pukester, a political analyst from CNN. Randy was correct, the American people were lighting up the phones at CNN, FoxNews and CSPAN, all with basically the same message, "That was the funniest thing we've ever seen on your program! When will you be airing this again? I want to video tape it! Har! Har! Har!”

Comment: This final comment is satire but thinly disguised as the truth. The first two articles on the State of the Union address are not satire but it would be more realistic to consider them as such.